For God so loved the world... Do not love the world...

1 John 2:1-17

Christ Is Our Advocate

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ² and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

³ By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. ⁴ The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; ⁵ but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: ⁶ the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

⁷ Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard. ⁸ On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. ⁹ The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰ The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. ¹¹ But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes... 

Do Not Love the World

¹⁵ Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

As we continue in John's letter to the church, taken from the daily reading in the One Year Bible, we see John moving from his introduction of the unity of God, Jesus and the Word into how that truth should impact our lives. He begins by saying that knowing the truth of who God is should lead us to live a life without sin. John assures us though that when we stumble and fall short Christ is still our advocate, the propitiation for our sin. Propitiation means to atone, to appease the wrath of God. God's righteousness and justice requires that there be a penalty for unrighteousness, sin. Jesus, Who was Himself without sin, went to the cross and gave Himself to atone for our sin, to appease the wrath of God not toward us but toward the unrighteousness in us. Jesus died once for all. 1 Peter 3:¹⁸ For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; He is our propitiation.

Jesus rejoined the Father in heaven. Romans 8:34 ...Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.  Jesus is our advocate, from His position at the right hand of the Father He continues to intercede and advocate for us, that the Father sees us as righteous in Him.

John moves then from this truth, this revelation of our position with God in Christ, to an evidence that should exist in our lives if we are in fact in Christ. John says that if we are in Christ we should keep His commanments. He says in verse 6  the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. Jesus Himself says in John 14:15  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. John exhorts us that the first evidence of following Jesus' commandments is in our response to what Jesus called the second greatest commandment. Matthew 22: ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We can know all about God the Father, Jesus the Son and even the Holy Spirit without it affecting a change in our lives. But if we know Him, have a personal relationship with God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit, we will love Him with all our heart, soul and mind and then we will love our neighbor, our brother as ourself. Until we have understood and gotten this into our hearts our souls and our  minds everything else we do we do in vain. Jesus says all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

The next indication or evidence of a life in Christ is our relationship to the things of the world. Here John echos what James wrote in his letter. James 4:4  You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Jesus spoke of this relationship we would have with the world. John 15: 18"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19"If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.…

Keep in mind our call and commandment to love our neighbor. This is not contrary to or in contradiction with the idea of not loving the world. The world that is referred to here is clarified in verse 16.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

How do we find this balance that only God truly has, this balance of loving people with a perfect love, while despising, hating the unrighteousness and sin we see in their lives? That's why the first commandment is first. Only as we love the Lord our God with ALL our heart, soul and mind, can we begin to love our neighbor.

The psalmist writes of this in Psalm 37:3-5 Trust in the Lord and do good;     dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. ⁴ Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;   trust in him and he will do this:

May this truth become increasingly real to us and increasingly more evident in us. Amen